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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 06 Issue 13
Volume 6, Issue 13 Atari Online News, Etc. March 26, 2004
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2004
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0613 03/26/04
~ SCO Goes After Feds! ~ People Are Talking! ~ RIAA Sues 532 More!
~ Phish Scam Shut Down! ~ New Bagle Worm Spawned ~ 'Crash Twinsanity'!
~ Microsoft Unveils XNA! ~ 'Witty' Worm On Loose! ~ Defining Spyware!
~ Who Runs the Internet? ~ Preventing HD Failure! ~ New DVD Burners!
-* AOL Blocks Spammers' Web Sites *-
-* Phishing for Identity Information! *-
-* European Union Fines Microsoft $613 Million *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Last week's snow is, for the most part, gone - thankfully. One last cruel
reminder of winter, perhaps? The temperatures are rising slowly - perhaps a
positive sign of things to come. I certainly hope so, as I'm definitely
ready for the spring season!
There are a number of obvious "targets" for this week's editorial. I could
go on about European Union's decision to find Microsoft guilty of antitrust
laws - something that the U.S. didn't have the cajones to do. We'll see
what impact this happens on the software giant. I could also reiterate the
vast stupidity of people, falling for such scam tactics as "phishing". But,
since we're all Atari users, past and present, I know that you're all too
smart to fall for things like that. Just do your non-Atari friends a favor,
and explain to them how not to be stupid and fall for these schemes. I
could also go on (and on!) about spam, but for now, what's the point? I
know I'll be back to that topic sooner or later.
So, what I thought I'd briefly do is a little reminiscing about things
Atari. For a lot of us old-timers, attending an AtariFest was something
that was kind of a highlight during our Atari-using experience. I'm not
talking about a local swap meet, but a major Atari show in which we got to
do some traveling, stay at a hotel, and mingle with hundreds of Atari users
and developers for a weekend.
During my Atari heyday, I managed to attend at least a half dozen shows,
including three WAACE shows, couple of Connecticut fests, as well as a
major AtariFest that I helped to put on in Boston. There was nothing like
these shows - ever. I've heard enough about MacWorld, that corporate-
sponsored ballyhoo. These aren't put on by everyday users, but major
corporations out to make a lot of big bucks. PC shows? I've really haven't
heard of any, but I would imagine that they'd be no different.
AtariFests were in a class all by themselves. For the most part, these
shows were put on by the users, for the users. Shows like WAACE, the
Glendale show, World of Atari, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Boston were
all put together by banded Atari user groups. Developers and dealers were
rounded up to attend, and usually with folks from Atari itself, and a
terrific weekend of events were planned and carried out in terrific manner.
These events are something that I will always remember fondly.
I remember my first WAACE show, the year after they moved from the school to
the Reston Sheraton hotel. A bunch of us drove the eight hours or so down
to Virginia, starting after midnight to make it in time for the terrific
hotel breakfast buffet! We'd eat, get in a few hours sleep, and then start
to mingle with people who w probably only met before on Delphi, GEnie,
Compuserve, or one of the many bulletin boards that we somehow were able to
afford to call. Or, we knew the names from reading the various Atari
magazines of the day.
What a thrill it was to be able to meet the likes of the CodeHeads - John
Eidsvoog and Charles Johnson. The Gribnif guys - Rick Flashman and Dan
Wilga. Dave Small. Jim Allen. Clay Walnum. Nathan Potechin. And the
countless others. And the people who put out our favorite magazines, like
Current Notes, Atari Explorer, ST-Log, Analog, and the rest. And the online
services, represented by such notables as Ron Luks, Charlie Bachand, and
Darlah Pine (Potechin). And of course, those from Atari that would show up,
like Jack Tramiel, Sam Tramiel, Bob Brodie, and others. These events
reminded me of an Atari version of Woodstock, only smaller. Instead of
terrific rock and roll, we had Atari. Those were the gold ol' days!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I'll warn you right at the start... short
column this week. The messages in the NewsGroup have picked up a bit,
but I find myself terribly under the gun. Tomorrow I'll be undergoing
one of the worst things known to man... an ISO audit.
I won't bore you with the details, but it's kind of like dentistry
before the invention of anesthetic. So I'll be kind of breezing through
the messages from the UseNet and picking the ones that I find more
interesting so that I can get to the mound of paperwork that I've left
un-done until now.
So without wasting any more time, let's get to the news, hints, tips and
info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
------------------------------------
Claude Bourgoin asks about the Falcon's keyboard:
"I was wondering if anyone out there has had a problem with the Falcon
Keyboard, especially with the space bar. All the keys on the Falcon work
fine except the spacebar. When I press the spacebar I do not get any
response from the falcon. For example, when I am typing in QED and press
the spacebar the cursor doesn't move."
David Bolt tells Claude:
"It's possible that something has managed to get inside the rubber cup
under the space bar and is not allowing an electrical connection when
you press on it. Unfortunately, if this is the cause of the problem, the
only cure I know of is to strip down the keyboard[0] and clean the dirt
from the rubber cup and/or on the keyboard circuit board.
Just a few things to make a note of:
there is space for 2 cups under the return key, although only one is
used, so don't think you've a missing cup just because the holder is
empty;
when disassembling, sometimes the cups will stick to the circuit board
and then fall off just after it's removed so take care to watch for them
falling;
when re-assembling, I found that by balancing the keyboard face down
between a couple of books, all the cups remained in their holders, and
it allowed me to easily realign the LEDs.
[0] After stripping several ST keyboards[1], which appear to be
identical to the Falcon keyboards, this isn't something I look forward
to having to do.
[1] Usually to fix broken mouse/joystick ports[2].
[2] Whoever decided to put the mouse and joystick ports there still
needs to be shot."
Claude tells David:
"I tried your suggestion of checking the suction cups, I cleaned all the
cups and cleaned off the circuit board now all the keys are working."
Derryck Croker adds this tip for Claude:
"It's well worth while touching up those joints with a soldering iron and
some solder 'just in case'!"
John Garone asks about formatting a new drive for the Falcon:
"Reformatting a Hawk 4gig drive on a Falcon, is it normal for my system
to take an hour to react to HDDriver (8.04)? The hard drive light stayed on
steady during that time. After that, a sector test was performed and the
drive light flashed until done. Partitioning went ok!"
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver tells John:
"Yes, some drives can take that long, or even longer. That's why formatting
a drive can be a waste of time, as long as it does not have bad sectors."
Peter Slegg asks for help with a misbehaving program:
"I seem to have done something that has broken Arcview.
I am still able to open and list the files in a Zip but
it is not possible to extract or view any of the contents.
It just reports this error:
Error -34 while Dsetpath(\tmp\ARCVIEW.TMP\)
and bleeps.
On my G partition there is a /tmp folder and inside
that there is an ARCVIEW.TMP folder when arcview
is running. I am using Arcview 0.82
Any ideas ? "
Derryck Croker tells Peter that it...
"Sounds like you've broken something - have you got something like this in
your env variables?
#_ENV TEMP=L:\ArcViewTemp\
I suppose I could have left the folder name out, ArcView would then have
created its ARCVIEW.TMP folder in the main directory.
The temp folder is needed for ArcView to extract to even if viewing a file.
Latest ArcView version is 0.83, by the way."
Peter tells Derryck:
"Well I've got the normal tmp directory stuff in mint.cnf:
setenv TMP u:\tmp
setenv TEMP u:\tmp
setenv TMPDIR u:\tmp
but that hasn't changed in ages.
I seem to remember this error popping up now and again when using Arcview
but it never seemed to make any difference. I must have changed something
but I am struggling to work out what it is at the moment."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Wish me luck with that audit... of
course, by the time you read this, the audit will be over with and I'll
have finished the better part of a bottle of scotch.... for medicinal
purposes only, of course.
Until next time, keep your ears open so that you'll hear what they are
saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Microsoft Unveils Development Tools!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" New Crash Bandicoot Returns!
Pitfall Harry Makes Comeback!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
New 'Pitfall' Game Is a Great Find
"Pitfall" was one of the great games of the early computer age.
Released on the Atari 2600 in 1982, the crudely rendered, two-dimensional
adventure let players control a figure named Pitfall Harry. The object was
to swing along vines, avoid being eaten by pixillated crocodiles, vault
over rolling logs, and climb stubby ladders to explore caves that looked
more like sewer pipe conduits.
Activision has now released the latest game in the franchise - "Pitfall:
The Lost Expedition" for Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2. What a
difference 22 years makes.
The open pits, the rolling logs, the deadly scorpions and the quicksand
bogs are still there, but crafted with delightful detail, in full 3-D, and
with the ability to view the action from just about any vantage point.
This game is just as addictive as the original, and there's even a plot of
sorts.
It begins with an ill-fated plane flight over a South American jungle.
Harry, who is not only a great jungle explorer, also fancies himself as
verrrry attractive to the ladies. He wastes no time grabbing a seat next
to Nicole, an attractive member of archaeologist Bernard Bittenbinder's
scientific team. But Nicole is a woman who seems to care more for her books
than Harry's attempts to charm her.
Naturally, a contrived plot device - which I like to refer to as "a very
bad thing" - occurs. In this case, a storm breaks out. One of the engines
is disabled. The plane dives toward the thick jungle growth. Death looms.
The plane's owners, subscribing to the Titanic Rule for stocking safety
equipment, have not provided enough parachutes. Harry quickly takes his,
gives it to Nicole, and then steals a kiss, which the startled Nicole
probably regards as another "very bad thing."
Harry then unceremoniously pushes her out of the plane - apparently so fast
it wasn't clear whether she had time to put on the chute.
Needless to say, Harry - even sans chute - survives, miraculously waking
up in a grassy clearing. He has not a scratch, bruise, or broken bone. But
there will be plenty of opportunity for that later.
The first obstacle: a huge circular pit that opens and closes like a
mouth. In fact, it IS a mouth. If Harry falls into it, it will chew on him
for a few seconds and - if he has any lives left - spit him out. Who knew a
cartoon explorer would taste so bad?
If a crocodile chomps down on him, the player can get free by rapidly
wiggling the thumbstick on the game controller. Harry then tries prying
open the beast's jaws until it flips him up in the air and sends him
flying.
Harry eventually has to round up all the crash survivors, a job that takes
him deep into scorpion-infested caves, across snowy mountains, and through
ancient ruins, where plenty of booby traps await.
The original game had the equivalent of 255 screens and gave you 20 minutes
to retrieve 32 treasures. This game allows players plenty of time to
explore.
The graphics are wonderful - as good, if not better, than any Lara Croft or
Indiana Jones exploration game. Harry has complete freedom of movement and
players can swing the camera around to look for the next vine to grab, or
try to figure out where the next enemy might appear. There are times,
however, when the scenery and camera angle work together to block your
view.
A few elements of the game were bothersome. On my PlayStation 2, the
non-interactive movies sometimes ended prematurely and I had to play the
Xbox version to see what I missed.
When loading a saved game, you find yourself at the last checkpoint, not
where you actually saved it.
And the characterization of the natives, who scurry around comically
whenever Harry comes into view, invokes stereotypes straight out of the
old-time jungle movies, with dialogue at the "unga bunga" level of
sophistication.
If you can forgive the cultural insensitivity in a game that's clearly
designed to be lighthearted fun, "Pitfall: The Lost Expedition" is a great
find.
Available for $40, it's rated for everyone. There's also a GameBoy Advance
version for $30, but it looks more like the 1982 version.
Crash Bandicoot Teams Up With Nemesis Dr. Cortex to Defeat
Evil Twins in the Marsupial's Funniest Adventure Yet
Best-Selling Video Game Franchise Introduces Innovative Dual
Gameplay Mechanic and Hilarious Storyline in New Action Platformer
for PlayStation2 and Xbox
The irrepressible Crash Bandicoot has returned in his funniest adventure
yet! Vivendi Universal Games announced Crash Twinsanity, the next
installment in the best-selling video game franchise, set to ship in Q3
2004 for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox video
game system from Microsoft. Developed by Traveller's Tales, the new action
platformer reveals a hilarious storyline that showcases the creative input
of award-winning animation filmmaker Jordan Reichek of Perky Pickle Studios
and introduces innovative features, including the ingenious pairing of
Crash with his longtime nemesis Dr. Cortex in an unprecedented new dual
gameplay mechanic.
"Crash Twinsanity reinvigorates the 3D action platform genre by combining
the well-known humor and wacky situations that Crash is known for with
cutting edge, inventive gameplay elements that will make this game the most
robust and funniest Crash experience ever," said Luc Vanhal, President and
COO, North America for VU Games.
A new adversary - The Evil Twins - has invaded Crash's island paradise with
plans of destruction. In a strange twist, Crash grudgingly pairs with his
archenemy, Dr. Cortex in order to save the world. Through this unorthodox
partnership, Cortex is abused as Crash's favorite weapon when Crash and
Cortex are controlled as one. Additionally, this dynamic paired gameplay
will include never-before-seen mechanics which also include cooperative
level designs in which Crash must protect Cortex and vice-versa, albeit
reluctantly!
Gamers will encounter complex and highly reactive enemies that will detect
and hunt Crash, run away when outgunned and interact with other foes to
either form alliances or settle differences. The game features completely
immersive environments which respond realistically as the player interacts
with them, along with streaming worlds that can be played through without
load times; and four playable characters - Crash, Cortex, Nina Cortex (the
niece of the evil doctor) and the brand new pairing of Crash and Cortex.
The Crash Bandicoot franchise made its debut in 1996 and has sold more than
30 million copies worldwide.
Microsoft Rolls Out Game Development Software
Microsoft Corp., looking to leverage its expertise in software as it tries
to catch up to competitors in the video game industry, on Wednesday
introduced a new platform to be used in building games for its Xbox
console.
At the Game Developers Conference, Microsoft unveiled XNA, a new system
that it said will underpin games for future versions of the Xbox, as well
as for the Windows and Windows Mobile operating systems.
Microsoft, a distant second place in the console market behind Sony Corp.,
said much of the goal behind XNA will be standardization, and it will make
some Xbox technologies available to Windows developers for integration into
PC games.
Among the features that will be ported over are the development kit for the
Xbox Live online gaming service and an audio authoring tool. Microsoft also
said it would create a unified controller standard so that control pads and
inputs would be alike across both Xbox and PC games.
Certain graphics technologies used in Windows would also come to the Xbox,
Microsoft said. The Xbox is more like a PC than its competitors, using
relatively standard storage and processing components.
The company recently installed a permanent head for its game studios, which
has put out few hits on the Xbox but has a longer history with PC games. It
also moved to unify its content development and marketing management.
Analyst Sees Microsoft Xbox Price Cut on Tuesday
Piper Jaffray on Friday predicted that Microsoft Corp. would cut the price
of its Xbox video game console to $149 next Tuesday, a move which it
suggested would spur sales in the short-term.
In a research note, Piper Jaffray analyst Tony Gikas said he expected the
price cut to take effect at stores as of Tuesday morning.
"We estimate that Xbox unit sales will increase by (4 to 5 times) during
the 6 to 8 weeks following the price cut compared to the 6 to 8 week period
prior to the price cut (then fall-off)," Gikas said.
A price cut on both the Xbox and the market-leading PlayStation 2 from Sony
Corp. has been widely expected, with most game publishers and retailers
forecasting the move no later than mid-May, the start of the gaming trade
show E3.
"We think the $149 price point is a risky undertaking that will limit unit
sales without additional promotions or killer-applications to drive
interest," Gikas said. "We doubt a $149 price point will be enough to drive
(calendar 2004) hardware unit sales above 2003 levels."
Microsoft executives have consistently declined to talk about pricing on
their hardware, including this week at the Game Developers Conference in
San Jose, an industry gathering where some had speculated the price move
would be announced.
Sun Micro Shows Off New System for Gaming Servers
Sun Microsystems Inc. on Sunday said it would demonstrate a prototype
system to allow video game publishers to use a single computer server to
run online games for both PCs and consoles, cutting the ongoing cost of
supporting those games.
Sun also announced a contest for independent game developers building games
in Sun's Java programing language.
Sun has pushed into gaming in recent years, tapping the growth in the $20
billion-plus international market, most notably in the wireless
environment, where its Java-based J2ME platform has been popular for games.
The server prototype is set to be exhibited at this week's Game Developers
Conference in San Jose, California.
"We will be able to bring multiple games online using the same exact stack
of hardware," Chris Melissinos, Sun's chief gaming officer, told Reuters
ahead of the show.
The server prototype, designed by the company's Game Technology Group, uses
Sun hardware and software and would allow publishers, Melissinos said, to
run games from both consoles and PCs on the same platform.
He declined to say when the technology might be commercially available.
The contest is designed to showcase Java game development and includes
prizes like a $40,000 development kit, computers and personal digital
assistants.
Sun said the winners would be announced during the JavaOne conference in
San Francisco this summer.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
European Union Fines Microsoft $613 Million
The European Union slapped Microsoft Corp. with a $613 million fine
Wednesday for abusively wielding its Windows software monopoly and ordered
sanctions that go well beyond the U.S. antitrust settlement - setting up
what could be another lengthy court battle.
Microsoft called the EU's decision "unwarranted and ill-considered," and
said it expected to ask a judge to suspend the order pending appeal.
The EU antitrust office said it sought to alter Microsoft's behavior
because its five-year investigation found that the software giant tried to
squeeze competitors out of Windows-related markets and "the illegal
behavior is still ongoing."
It gave the company 90 days to offer European computer manufacturers a
version of Windows stripped of the company's digital media player, software
for viewing video and listening to music that is expected to become pivotal
in the industry as multimedia content becomes more pervasive.
The EU also gave Microsoft 120 days to release "complete and accurate"
information to rivals in the office server market so their products can
work more smoothly with desktop computers running Windows.
"Microsoft has abused its virtual monopoly power over the PC desktop in
Europe," EU antitrust chief Mario Monti said. "We are simply ensuring that
anyone who develops new software has a fair opportunity to compete in the
marketplace."
Monti said he limited the order to Europe in deference to regulators in
the United States and other countries, but that doing so "will not unduly
undermine the effectiveness," given the size of the European market.
Microsoft, which had $32 billion in revenue last year, does about 20
percent of its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, said he would most likely ask the
presiding judge at the European Court of First Instance to stay the order
pending appeal - a process that can take years.
"The European Commission has the first word, but the European courts have
the final word," he said.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, announcing a new speech server product in
San Francisco on Wednesday, did not mention the EU case.
The U.S. Justice Department said the decision could hamper innovation and
harm consumers.
The fine would automatically be suspended upon appeal, but antitrust
experts were divided on the company's chances for winning emergency relief
from the rest of the order.
"It will be up to Microsoft to show that this prohibition causes
irreparable harm, which is not an easy thing to do," said Jacques
Bourgeois, a former commission legal adviser now in private practice.
Others noted, however, that the commission would have to show that further
delay could result in irreparable harm to competitors, such as the danger
they could go out of business. And the court has shown sympathy to
arguments about threats to intellectual property rights.
"If it's later ruled that the commission was wrong" to make Microsoft
disclose information to rivals, "how do they put the genie back into the
bottle?" said Stephen Kinsella, an international business expert with the
Herbert Smith law firm in Brussels.
Monti called the ruling "proportionate" and "balanced," noting that
"dominant companies have a special responsibility to ensure that the way
they do business doesn't prevent competition."
He said the decision should set a "framework" for resolving similar
complaints already pending against Microsoft's latest operating system,
Windows XP.
"Maybe fewer cases will materialize because of the clarity which we hope
to bring forward with this decision," he said.
Settlement talks broke down last week over the EU's insistence on just such
a precedent-setting element: preventing Microsoft from adding features such
as Google-like search to future versions of Windows.
Smith argued that Microsoft's settlement proposal, which he said included
an offer to release a worldwide Windows version that included three
competing media players besides its own, would have been more useful to
consumers than the penalties.
He called the order to produce a version of Windows without media software
an "unwarranted and ill-considered" violation of intellectual property
rights under World Trade Organization rules.
Doing so, he said, would be difficult and make other features and even some
Web sites work less effectively.
The company made similar claims in the U.S. case, which surrounded
Microsoft's inclusion of its Internet Explorer Web browser in Windows.
Microsoft was also found guilty of monopolistic behavior in the U.S. case,
but the EU order strikes deeper, at the heart of Microsoft's business
strategy - regularly adding new features to Windows to help sell upgrades.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company argues that such "bundling" benefits
consumers. Rivals call it unfair competition, given that Windows runs more
than 90 percent of personal computers worldwide.
The EU said it was concerned that a stranglehold on media players could
let Microsoft dictate future standards for how digital music and video
files are encoded, distributed and played.
Under the EU order, Microsoft can continue selling a version of Windows
with its media player software installed but must not make the
stripped-down version less attractive or a poorer performer.
The ruling could boost other makers of media software, led by RealNetworks
Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. Bob Kimball, RealNetworks' general counsel,
said the EU decision "confirms the merit" of his company's private
antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.
The EU case also involved low-end servers that tie desktop computers
together in offices. Sun Microsystems Inc. complained to the EU in 1998
that Microsoft refused to provide details needed for Sun programs to "talk"
to Windows computers as efficiently as Microsoft's own server software
could.
The Commission called Microsoft's refusal to disclose interface information
"part of a broader strategy designed to shut competitors out of the
market."
Microsoft could get "reasonable remuneration" for disclosing its
proprietary code, the ruling said, adding that the Windows source code
itself would remain untouched.
The EU said it would appoint a trustee to monitor Microsoft's compliance
with the ruling. The expert is to be selected from at least three names
submitted by Microsoft, but the company would have to demonstrate the
independence of its nominees. The trustee would have access to Microsoft
sites, employees and documents.
The EU described the decision in a three-page statement. The ruling itself
may not be released for weeks, as Microsoft may ask that business secrets
be redacted.
Phishing for Identity Information
Phishing - a relatively new obsession among Internet scammers - employs
e-mail lures to "fish" for identity information, such as passwords and
financial data. It has become more prevalent, and more dangerous, since
EarthLink first warned Web users about theft e-mail scams in July, 2003.
Armed with their "phished" information, scammers commit identity theft and
fraud, explains Dan Meyer, director of communications for the Anti-Phishing
Working Group and director of product marketing at Tumbleweed, a corporate
anti-spam vendor.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group, an association of financial institutions,
online retailers, ISPs, the law-enforcement community and vendors, reported
282 unique phishing attacks in February - a 60 percent increase over the
number of attacks reported in January.
"We've seen a pretty significant growth trend over a number of months, and
there is nothing that is going to change that in the near future," says
Meyer.
It is no wonder phishing is growing. It is one of the most economical fraud
schemes possible; it entails low risk of getting caught; and it offers a
very high reward, according to Naftali Bennet, CEO of Cyota, an anti-fraud
and security software provider.
Quantity is not the only changing variable. The quality of the phishing is
improving, says Bennet. Today's phishing attacks look professional, unlike
the attacks of less than a year ago, which did not include graphics and
often contained spelling and grammar errors. "Today's phishing attacks
mimic the actual Web sites."
It is the authenticity of the e-mail and the ability of the phisher to
convince the user to open it that enables a successful phishing expedition.
"We see many types of phish attacks: They can be e-mails that blatantly ask
for a login or password from a well-known e-tailer or financial institution
end-user," says Rami Habel, senior product manager, Proofpoint. "They can
also be more disguised messages that do not have a username/password
request, but have a call to action - and it is in this call to action that
phishers trick end-users."
The February "winner" for the most phishing attacks is eBay, with the
Anti-Phishing Group listing 104 unique attacks. Citibank had the next
highest number of unique attacks with 58, followed by PayPal, with 42. The
industry most targeted by phishers continues to be financial services, both
in the number of attacks and the number of organizations assailed.
"It's where the money is," quips Meyer.
Phish attacks started out as e-tailer spoofs - such as a fake eBay seller
e-mail - but they have evolved to include financial-institution and ISP
fraud, explained Habel. Furthermore, some sophisticated phishers now are
emulating a company's e-mail correspondence with its own employees.
Phishing is a federal criminal offense, and depending on the actual abuses,
can land the offender in prison for up to 30 years.
"It looks more and more like professionals are getting involved in
phishing. This started out as small time, but it's looking much more like
organized crime is involved, both domestically and internationally," Meyer
said. Among the international hot spots are Russia and South Korea.
Because it is cheap and easy, small-time operators always will be
involved, believes Bennet, who notes that an amateur can set up a phishing
operation in about 12 hours. While there are other troublesome technologies
on the horizon, expect phishing to continue to grow.
U.S. Shuts Down Internet 'Phishing' Scam
The U.S. government said on Monday it had arrested a Texas man who crafted
fake e-mail messages to trick hundreds of Internet users into providing
credit card numbers and other sensitive information.
Zachary Hill of Houston pleaded guilty to charges related to a "phishing"
operation, in which he sent false emails purportedly from online businesses
to collect sensitive personal information from consumers, the Federal Trade
Commission said.
According to the FTC, Hill sent out official-looking e-mail notices warning
America Online and Paypal users to update their accounts to avoid
cancellation.
Those who clicked on a link in the message were directed to a Web site Hill
set up that asked for Social Security numbers, mothers' maiden names, bank
account numbers and other sensitive information, the FTC said.
Phishing has emerged as a favorite tool of identity thieves over the past
several years and experts say it is a serious threat to consumers.
Hill used the information he collected to set up credit-card accounts and
change information on existing accounts, the FTC said. He duped 400 users
out of at least $75,000 before his operation was shut down on Dec. 4, FTC
attorneys said.
Hill will be sentenced on May 17, according to court documents.
A lawyer for Hill was not immediately available for comment.
Scam artists have posed as banks, online businesses and even the U.S.
government to gather personal information, setting up Web pages that
closely mirror official sites.
FTC officials said consumers should never respond to an e-mail asking for
sensitive information by clicking on a link in the message. "If you think
the company needs your financial information, it's best to contact them
directly," FTC attorney Lisa Hone said.
Those who believe they may be victims of identity theft should visit
(http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft), she said.
AOL Blocks Spammers' Web Sites
America Online Inc. has adopted a new tactic against spam: blocking its
members' ability to see Web sites promoted by bulk e-mailers.
The policy, which began earlier this year, opens a new front in the war on
spam but also makes the Dulles company the first of its kind to push past
the traditional Internet orthodoxy that service providers should be neutral
conduits to anything the World Wide Web has to offer.
Many spammers advertise products - including body-enhancement pills,
pirated software and get-rich-quick schemes - by including links in their
e-mail to Internet sites that display the wares and process orders. AOL
members attempting to visit a blocked Web page receive an error message
that says a connection to the page could not be made, but are not told that
it is a spammer's site that has been placed off limits. No other
notification of the policy is provided.
"Essentially, we have vastly improved AOL's ability to restrict identified
spammers' sites from being accessed by our members online," said company
spokesman Nicholas J. Graham. He said AOL is choosing which sites to block
based on complaints from its members, who can report spam that they receive
to the company.
Graham said the Web site blocking policy has contributed to, for the first
time, a reduction in the amount of bulk mail that spammers are trying to
send to its members.
The move highlights the fact that Internet providers have the ability to
block users from seeing certain content. Indeed, in trying to short-circuit
the income stream of spammers, AOL is attacking one of the most vexing
truths about the spam problem: Some people want and buy the products, which
helps keeps the spammers in business.
"There is a service to AOL members by doing this," said Paul M. Smith, a
Washington lawyer who specializes in Internet and media law. "But there's
some trade-off...because some people want to go to those sites. It shows
that there can be in the world of the Internet some serious issues raised
by a small number of companies that [control] bottlenecks to the flow of
information."
Although AOL has joined hands with Internet service competitors EarthLink
Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to sue spammers and to develop new
technologies for blocking spam, AOL is alone in its move to try to cut off
access to commerce Web sites advertised via spam.
EarthLink spokeswoman Carla Shaw said her service has begun to block Web
sites that are linked from spam that purports to be from EarthLink. In a
scam known as phishing, the e-mail directs users to sites that look like
they are EarthLink's and asks for personal data. AOL has blocked phishing
sites for about a year.
Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo block access to Web sites for their e-mail
account holders.
Legal experts said there is nothing in the AOL strategy that violates
free-speech laws. And Internet service providers (ISPs) have long provided
parents the ability to block content from their children.
"The model of the Internet always came with some substantial latitude for
the ISP to pick and choose," said James X. Dempsey, executive director of
the Center for Democracy and Technology, a public interest group. "What
we're talking about is a byproduct of the strain spam is placing on the
Internet. There's no doubt that spam is forcing ISPs and others to some
extreme measures."
But Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said
AOL's intentions are good, but blocking Web sites is "paternalistic." She
said she worries that system could be abused by someone seeking to block a
rival's Web site by spamming AOL members with that link.
Graham said AOL abides by a Pennsylvania law that requires ISPs to block
access to child-pornography sites. That law is being challenged by civil
liberties groups because the list of blocked sites is determined by the
state attorney general's office. Government deciding what people can see
or read violates the First Amendment, these groups say.
Graham said that the combination of improved filtering, stepped-up legal
actions and the Web site blocking could be turning spammers away from AOL,
whose members have been a prime spam target. According to AOL's numbers on
Feb. 20, 2.6 billion pieces of spam were sent to AOL accounts. On March 17,
the number was 1.9 billion.
Statistics from other Internet providers, e-mail security companies and
market research firms show that overall spam traffic has held steady for
the past several months at about 60 percent of all e-mail traffic.
'Witty' Worm Wallops Thousands of Computers
A quickly spreading e-mail worm that emerged over the weekend damaged
computers at several universities and at least one Web hosting company,
according to the first wave of damage reports that began surfacing on
Monday as system administrators returned to work.
The so-called "Witty" worm spread rapidly throughout the Internet early
Saturday morning, infecting as many as 30,000 computers before subsiding,
said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the SANS Internet Storm
Center.
The worm disrupted service for thousands of customers of Webhosting.net, a
Miami-based Web hosting company. Andrew Martin, the company's chief
information officer, said the worm completely destroyed four of the
company's Windows servers, shuttering more than 1,000 Web sites for most of
the weekend. The company is in the process of bringing customers back
online.
"Those computers were pretty much hosed," Martin said. "Luckily we were
able to retrieve the data that was on them from backup servers, but the
infected computers had to be rebuilt from scratch."
The worm targeted computers running one of two firewall software programs
in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows operating system, taking advantage
of a security flaw in the firewall applications that was uncovered earlier
this month. Once it infects a computer, it destroys files and often makes
it impossible for people to restart their computers. It also tries to use
the computer to look for new infection targets, but as the number of
affected computers shut down, the worm's spread subsided.
Unlike many recent worms that arrive as e-mail attachments, the Witty worm
migrates without any action on the part of the user. It gets the name
"Witty" from a line of code in the worm that says, "insert witty message
here."
The worm does its work without creating new files on infected PCs, so few
antivirus products would have detected it, Ullrich said.
It also writes random data onto the computer hard drives, often causing
them to fail. The worm can overwrite most data on the hard drive within
about 20 minutes. Technologically sophisticated computer users could
recover that data, but most users would have to go through the complicated
process of reinstalling the operating system. In some cases, the worm can
damage computers beyond all repair.
The firewalls were developed by Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems
Inc., which estimated that 16,000 computers were infected during the
weekend.
Chris Rouland, vice president of ISS's X-Force research and development
division, said the number could have been higher if the worm struck during
the work week when most vulnerable computers were turned on.
Scott Fendley, an IT security analyst for the University of Arkansas in
Fayetteville, lost much of the work he had done on his master's thesis
after the Witty worm took down his computer on Saturday.
The worm did not take down the university's critical computers, but Fendley
said that the school was considering whether to buy a university-wide
license for Black Ice.
"I have a feeling that we will reconsider what our options are for
enterprise firewall software," he said. "It's more than a little ironic
that this comes from a security firm that makes much of its money from
discovering security flaws in other people's software."
The worm also hit the University of Michigan, infecting 75 Web and e-mail
servers. Traffic generated by the worm trying to infect other systems
quickly brought e-mail and Web traffic to a halt on the school's network
for the bulk of the day.
Jim Daniels, a network administrator for the University of Michigan, said
the school is in the process of rebuilding the servers.
"When they tried to reboot these machines, we learned they were pretty
much finished off," Daniels said. "I don't think anyone has been able to
restore one without completely rebuilding it."
No suspect has been identified in Saturday's attack. Rouland of ISS said
that the company contacted the FBI. The FBI is aware of the situation but a
spokesman declined to say whether it is investigating.
Security vulnerability research firm eEye Digital Security identified the
flaw on March 8. The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company discovered that it
could trick some versions of Black Ice and Real Secure into processing
Internet traffic that would allow attackers to transfer dangerous data to
vulnerable computers.
ISS made a patch available for its corporate customers shortly after the
eEye announcement, but did not provide a fix for its vulnerable desktop PC
versions until Friday afternoon.
Initial copies of the worm appear to have been "seeded" - or initially
released from at least 100 computers that the attackers had taken over,
said Colleen Shannon, a senior security researcher for the Cooperative
Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA).
CAIDA monitors Internet traffic trends from its location at the San Diego
Supercomputing Center at the University of California, San Diego.
New Spawn of Bagle Worm Unleashed
Yet another version of the Bagle worm is on the loose and is already
causing trouble in parts of Europe. Bagle.U appeared early Friday morning
and has begun spreading quickly, even though it contains none of the social
engineering tricks that Bagle's author has used to help previous versions
succeed.
This variant arrives in an e-mail with a blank subject line and no body
text. The sending address, as always, is spoofed, and the name of the
infected executable attachment is completely random. After execution, the
worm mails itself to all of the addresses in the infected machine's address
book.
Bagle.U does include a backdoor component that listens on TCP port 4751 and
connects to a Web server in a German domain, www.werde.de, according to an
analysis by the McAfee Security unit of Network Associates Inc., based in
Santa Clara, Calif. Once it establishes a connection with the remote
server, the worm generates a unique ID number for each specific infected
machine and sends that number and the number of the port on which it is
listening to the server.
The worm also is capable of downloading an updated copy of itself from the
remote server or downloading a batch file that removes the worm from the
infected PC.
Once resident on the system, Bagle.U will sometimes open the Hearts card
game that is included with some versions of Windows. In other cases it will
drop a file named Gigabit.exe into the Windows system folder. This file
contains a copy of the worm.
Bagle.U is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2005. Officials at McAfee said they had
seen about 100 copies of Bagle.U as of early Friday morning and expected
many more as the day wears on.
This is the 21st variant of Bagle to appear on the Internet since the
original Bagle worm showed up on Jan. 18.
SCO Goes to Washington
The SCO Group is targeting the U.S. government with legal threats over its
use of the Linux operating system. Using the Freedom of Information Act, a
Virginia attorney unearthed letters written by SCO to two agencies of the
Department of Energy.
SCO's letters, which surfaced last week, were aimed at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory and the National Energy Research Scientific
Computing Center. Those agencies both use supercomputers that run on Linux.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is awaiting the completed
installation the world's fastest computer, IBM's Linux-based Blue Gene/L.
SCO earlier had contacted the NERSC, informing the agency that the use of
Linux infringed on its Unix patents. On January 16th, SCO's regional
director of intellectual-property licensing, Gregory Pettit, issued an
aggressive plea, written partly in the upper case:
"If you fail to respond to our efforts to pursue a licensing arrangement,
WE WILL TURN YOUR NAME OVER TO OUR OUTSIDE COUNSEL FOR CONSIDERATION OF
LEGAL ACTION."
Mark Koehn, a Virginia-based intellectual-property lawyer of the firm Shaw
Pittman, obtained the letters under the Freedom of Information Act. "I
networked through a contact who knew of the letters, so I requested those
from the Department of Justice," Koehn told NewsFactor. "These letters are
samples, and my sense is that there have been more sent to other government
agencies," he said.
Just how the federal government will respond to legal threats over Linux
is pure conjecture, at this point. Will it defend the use of Linux by
federal agencies? Some observers, such as Will Rodger, director of public
policy with the Open Source and Industry Alliance, say the government
likely will do nothing until litigation actually occurs.
"There are all sorts of reasons why the government doesn't need to worry
about this," Rodger told NewsFactor. "The government has to allow itself
to be sued, so people in civilian agencies shouldn't be terribly worried
about it," he said.
SCO certainly has able bodies in its pool of attorneys, namely the former
Department of Justice star lawyer who helped spearhead the government's
successful antitrust case against Microsoft, David Boies. But Rodger says
that knowledge of the inner workings of the DoJ will not add much to SCO's
argument. "It's a meritless case," he added.
"I have a hard time ... believing that even David Boies himself, with the
combined might of his firm and the funders of SCO, would be able to defeat
the Department of Justice in court," Rodger noted.
But litigation may not be in SCO's best interest. As seen in the proposed
merger of Oracle and PeopleSoft, the DoJ objected to the pairing on
antitrust grounds. But a number of analysts privately say the tipping point
had nothing to do with antitrust. Many federal and state agencies rely on
PeopleSoft products, so regulators were not about to allow the possibility
of losing vendor support because the software changed owners.
Similarly, Linux is becoming an important piece of computing in government
centers, especially because applications makers can supply lower cost
alternatives that run on open-source software. How likely is it that the
government simply would return to a non-Linux world? "I'm curious to see
how the DoJ will react," said attorney Mark Koehn.
Back in January, SCO's CEO sent letters to members of the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives to inform them of the dangers of open-source. In
language reminiscent of the cold war, Darl McBride tells lawmakers that
the use of open-source software is essentially unpatriotic, anti-capitalist
and, in terms of security, risky. He warns that a dictator could build a
supercomputer with information available through the open-source movement.
"All these claims are ludicrous. They're using alarmist language, because
they essentially have no case," argues Rodger. "In open source, you have a
phenomenon now that has penetrated essentially all of the global 2000," he
noted.
Rodger argues that open source is a development and licensing methodology
that is an integral part of the business plans of major I.T. companies,
such as IBM and Oracle. The Linux genie is not going back in the bottle.
Recording Industry Sues 532 Over Swapping
The recording industry sued 532 people Tuesday, including scores of
individuals using computer networks at 21 universities, claiming they were
illegally sharing digital music files over the Internet.
The latest wave of copyright lawsuits brought by the Recording Industry
Association of America on behalf of recording companies marks the first
time the trade group has targeted computer users swapping music files over
university networks.
The RIAA filed the "John Doe" complaints against 89 individuals using
networks at universities in Arizona, California, New York, Indiana,
Maryland, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Washington.
Lawsuits were also filed against 443 people using commercial Internet
access providers in California, Colorado, Missouri, Texas and Virginia.
The recording group did not name which Internet access providers the
defendants were using.
With the "John Doe" lawsuits, the recording industry must work through the
courts to find out the identities of the defendants, which at the outset
are identified only by the numeric Internet protocol addresses assigned to
computers online.
The defendants, which the trade group claims offered "substantial amounts"
of music files, face potential civil penalties or settlements that could
cost them thousands of dollars. Settlements in previous cases have averaged
$3,000 each.
"We are sending a clear message that downloading or 'sharing' music from a
peer-to-peer network without authorization is illegal, it can have
consequences and it undermines the creative future of music itself," RIAA
president Cary Sherman said.
Including Tuesday's filings, the recording industry has sued 1,977 people
since launching its legal assault against online music piracy last fall,
and has reached out-of-court settlements in around 400 of the cases.
Senators Struggle to Define Computer 'Spyware'
Computer "spyware" is noxious and harmful and must be stopped as soon as
people can figure out exactly what it is, members of a Senate subcommittee
said on Tuesday.
Programs that secretly track computer users' activities are becoming an
online scourge rivaling "spam" e-mail and should be outlawed before they
prompt consumers to abandon the Internet, members of the Senate
communications subcommittee said.
But a bill sponsored by committee members will need to define the problem
precisely to avoid outlawing pop-up ads and other annoying but essentially
harmless technologies, consumer and business advocates said.
"We really have to spend a little time, take a deep breath and define what
we're after here," said Jerry Berman, president of the Center for Democracy
and Technology, a consumer-advocacy group.
Like the congressional debate about "spam" e-mail last year, much rests on
the definition of what constitutes legitimate marketing activity and what
should be outlawed.
Some online advertisers and song-swapping networks like Kazaa place
programs on users' computers to monitor their activity, or harness their
processors for other activities.
Other programs secretly track users' keystrokes to lift passwords and
credit-card numbers, or sell "fixes" for software problems they create.
At least one state legislature has already passed an anti-spyware bill,
prompting a business group to call for a national law to avoid conflicts.
"There should be a single federal standard that preempts existing state
laws," said Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Conrad Burns would require companies to obtain
permission before installing a piece of software on a consumer's computer,
and provide an easy way for the consumer to remove the software if he
wished.
"It's my computer, it's my private property," the Montana Republican said.
"I bought it and paid for it for my use only, not some leech."
One purveyor of pop-up ads said his software was actually less intrusive
than traditional advertising methods because it does not rely on databases
that amass personal details about consumers.
Consumers know when WhenU.com Inc.'s pop-up software has been installed and
can uninstall it easily - as 80 percent of those who downloaded it have
done, said company president Avi Nader.
Burns seemed convinced by Nader's testimony, and said business groups would
need to define unacceptable behavior to pinpoint the problem.
"Mr. Nader is in a legitimate business," Burns said.
U.N. Forum Debates Who Is in Charge of Internet
Who runs the Internet and how can it better serve the world? Everyone from
the Internet's founders to advocacy groups met at the United Nations on
Thursday to work on a new definition of governing the Internet.
While tech-savvy citizens of the developed world can send e-mail around the
globe or buy digital music online, several governments in the developing
world say the Internet has aggravated a "digital divide" where the world's
poor remain unconnected to modern Internet and communication innovations.
"Already we can tell that there is an elephant in the room," Vinton Cerf,
a director of the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) said at a news briefing.
ICANN was chartered in 1998 by the U.S. government as a private nonprofit
body to assign names and numbers to manage domain names.
"Some people suggest it is globalization. The other aspect of the elephant
was that there were a lot of blind people trying to figure out what
Internet governance is," said Cerf, a vice president of MCI. "So far, we've
had many different views and no good definitions."
Internet use has exploded over the past decade, with an estimated 700
million and 1 billion users.
Many developing countries want governments to play a larger role in what
appears on the Internet through the International Telecommunications Union,
a United Nations agency.
But the world's richer nations want to preserve the status quo. Some in the
private sector fear increased government involvement could slow innovation
and lead to more red tape.
A U.N. task force was established last December to determine whether
government officials should step in and set Internet policy in an effort
to speed up the bridging of the technology gap.
At the two-day "Global Forum on Internet Governance" hosted by the United
Nations, more than 200 representatives from government, the private sector
and civil society debated issues such as regulation and transparency, and
how to balance those with innovation in expanding the uses of the Internet.
Robert Kahn, a founder of the Internet who is CEO of the Corporation for
National Research Initiatives, said: "It takes a while to realize that it's
like the world economy, really. There's nobody who runs it (the Internet)
but a collaborative effect of a lot of people."
Anriette Esterhuysen of the South Africa-based Association for Progressive
Communications said discussing Internet governance at a global forum "is
going to bring us a lot closer to a workable system."
The forum, which ends on Friday, will produce a report for the United
Nations Information and Communication Technology Task Force. Their findings
and recommendations will be presented at the World Summit on the
Information Society in Tunis in 2005.
Clever Critter May Detect Hard-Drive Failures
Early detection is invaluable to prevent heart failure, and it may work for
hard failure - as in hard drive - too, say Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
researchers.
They have designed a new heat-sensitive sensor to detect temperature
variations that may signal an oncoming hard-drive disaster.
CMU is deploying the dime-sized "Critter Temperature Sensor" - which
attaches to a user's desktop computer - to monitor the working environment
of hard-charging hard drives across campus.
"Essentially, what we are trying to do is save the life of the computer
hard drive," explained Michael Bigrigg, a project scientist at CMU's
Institute for Complex Engineered Systems (ICES). "Hard drives get hot, and
the sensor is designed to pick up the slightest temperature variation."
The average life span of a computer hard drive is 600,000 hours, or 3.1
years, said CMU spokesperson Chriss Swaney.
"But Carnegie Mellon researchers predict that they may be able to extend
the life span of a computer hard drive and save users time and money by
sensing how much daily heat a hard drive endures," Swaney told NewsFactor.
"On average, it costs (US)$80 to $200 to repair a damaged hard drive,
according to ICES."
Data storage has exploded in recent years; the CMU researchers offer a
rough estimate of how much:
"The amount of new words, sounds and pictures stored on computer hard
drives has almost doubled in the past three years," Bigrigg explained. "In
global-climate data storage alone, researchers estimate that the volume of
recorded information is expected to soar - from 2 billion gigabytes in the
year 2000 to 15 billion gigabytes in 2010."
A gigabyte is a billion bytes - the equivalent of a billion English
letters. Compare this amount to the average number of letters in a popular
novel - one to five million - and it is no wonder hard drives sometimes
buckle under their hefty load.
Guarding against hard-drive failures may take more than a clever critter
however, said Texas A & M electrical engineering professor Laszlo Kish, an
expert in semiconductor and electronic heat stress.
"The temperature of the hard drive may go up too high, but there are many
types of hard-drive failures," Kish told NewsFactor. "This protection,
which is to switch off the drive when it is too hot, would work only with
one class of failures."
In addition to early hard-drive failure detection, the new sensor "will
also help researchers understand wasted energy," Bigrigg told NewsFactor.
New DVD Burners Double Data Capacity
If you just bought a DVD-burning drive for your computer and think that for
once you're current with the latest and greatest, it's disappointment time.
Manufacturers are soon launching drives that can store double the amount of
data on a disc.
Sony Electronics says it will be shipping drives in about two months that
accept blank DVDs with two data layers. Philips Electronics will start
selling a similar drive in Europe in April, but is not saying when it will
be available in the United States.
The write-once discs can store up to 8.5 gigabytes of data, or about 4
hours of DVD-quality movies, twice the capacity of regular blank DVDs. This
means capacities for computer-burned DVDs are catching up with prerecorded
movie DVDs, many of which are already dual-layer.
The new technology is sure to appeal to those who back up or copy movie
DVDs, since they often have to reduce image quality or remove special
features to fit a copied movie onto a single-layer disc. With a dual-layer
drive, an exact copy on a single disc should be possible.
(The software used to copy encrypted movie DVDs is illegal in the United
States, according to recent court rulings.)
The two layers of the new discs are accessed from the same side - there is
no need to flip the disc over to record to the second layer. Instead, a
laser beam shines through the first layer to record on the second.
Sony will sell an internal drive for $230 and an external one for $330.
They will be marketed only for Windows PCs, but the external one should
work on Macintosh (news - web sites) computers with the proper third-party
software.
Philips will sell two
internal drives with somewhat different features,
both for PCs. U.S. prices have not been set.
The drives will be able to burn regular write-once and rewritable DVDs and
CDs as well.
The Sony and Philips drives will use somewhat different discs. Sony calls
its variant DVD-R DL. The Philips equivalent is DVD+R DL. Both disc types
should be readable in standard DVD drives and players.
Sony estimates the blank discs will cost $5 to $6. Philips does not have
an estimate yet.
The dual-layer discs will be slower to burn than single-layer discs - the
drives will be rated as burning at 2.4 times faster than playback speed,
versus eight times for single-layer discs.
A full 8.5 gigabytes will take about 45 minutes to burn.
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